San Francisco Bay Area commuters are set to get a reprieve from a potential transit strike after a judge indicated at a hearing Sunday that he would grant California Gov. Jerry Brown's request for a 60-day cooling-off period in negotiations.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow is expected to issue a formal order granting the injunction later Sunday. Bay Area Rapid Transit trains would run for at least the next 60 days while the two sides are expected to negotiate further.

Brown's request came after a panel appointed by the governor to investigate the labor dispute concluded that a strike would cause significant harm to the public's health, safety and welfare.

BART, the nation's fifth-largest rail system, serves more than 400,000 commuters each weekday.

The unions went on strike last month, shutting down BART service for four days.